Thanks to Bleeding Cool reporter Ian Melton, and other friends of Bleeding Cool, we are off.

Image Expo 2018 is announced for 1st February 2018 – the second Image Comics Day.

Joe Casey has a new book. “Clearly from my work, no one is telling me what to do…”

The Lieutenants Of Metal with Ulises Farinas. It takes inspiration from the early days of Image comics when the comics were “gloriously incomprehensible” in a good way and he hopes they can capture that spirit. Out later this year.

Justin Jordan has The Death Of Love. A 5 issue series with Donal DeLay, with colors by Felipe Sobreiro and letters by Rachel Deering. The main character can see cupid’s arrow and declares war on love. The series will have cupids and chainsaws. Out in the fall.

Morgan Beem is a new artist with Justin Jordan on The Family Trade. The basic idea is cyberpunk/ ocean pink. It’s fun – as the youngest member of the clan gets in trouble. Hand-painted with watercolor, it’s about a patchwork city floating in the ocean.

In a steampunk world Jordan calls “ocean punk”. The city is this world’s hub of commerce, and the family in charge are assassins, thieves, and grifters, Jordan said. The youngest member of this clan is a main character. It will be an ongoing series with self-contained arcs of 5 or 6 issues. You may have seen it on Bleeding Cool before… Expect swashbuckling action. An ongoing in the fall.

Joseph Keatinge and Wool Jin Clark‘s new comic is called Flavor. In a world where culinary arts are the main industry. They started plotting the book at the last ECCC. er. Owen Gieni on colours, Ariana Maher on letters and Ali Bouzari as a culinary consultant and as also a “food scientist”. For the fall – or the harvest.

Sleepless is the new comic written by Sarah Vaughn with art from Leila Del Duca and edited and coloured by Alissa Sallah. With a princess, the daughter of the dead king, protected by a knight that doesn’t need to sleep. A historical romance fantasy with a diverse cast, it’s set in a world inspired by 15th century Morocco where guards can never sleep because of the people they are sworn to protect.

Jordie Bellaire writing and colouring with Vanessa del Rey drawing and Fonografiks lettering, they have a new comic together called Redlands… About a town called Redlands and the corruption within – specifically corrupt police cops who are also witches. Redlands is a fictionalised version of a real place that contains everything Bellaire is most upset about, corruption, misogyny and the patriarchy… and a comic for those who “like sex, like weirdness, if horror, if you’re upset about the way the government and criminal justice system works…”

Jody Leheup and Sebastian Girner, who have edited for Marvel, Valiant as well as Image comics, are now writing comics with Shirtless Bear Fighter, the greatest comic about punching bears in the face ever made. It’s a fight comic, obviously. It’about a guy who’s very angry and needs to change if he’s going to save his loved ones. Art by Neil Vendrell colours by Mike Spicer and letters by Dave Lanphear on letters. They wanted the comic to look like a cartoon or comic that you might see in the background of an action film. The main character will be shirtless, as you may guess, and is the “angriest man in comics”. He only wears pants because they can’t have a “super naked wild dude on the cover”, even if he is all heart. It’s supposed to make you laugh, and it’s silly, with 22 pages of gritted teeth and flexing per issue, they laughed. When bears start attacking major cities, which they do, “Shirtless” will be needed.

Jeff Lemire and Phil Hester are on video with a new comic, The Family Tree. It didn’t work but it will return.

UPDATE: It didn’t return. A horror comic about a road trip across America to cure a young girl named Meg.

Doug Wagner, Kevin Gardner and Nick Rummel have a new comic called The Hard Place. With Aj, the main character, fresh out jail who gets caught up in a robbery. A 5-issue series, already fully inked.

Ales Kot has a new series with Andre Lima Araujo, Generation Gone. About a couple in a toxic relationship but who get superpowers after they decide to rob a bank… Unbreakable meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Coloured by Chris O’Halloran, with Clayton Cowles on letters and Tom Muller on design.out in July.

And Kot has another book with Tradd Moore, The New World, set in a future California after a second Civil War, The wall still remains between Califonia and Mexico, and an earthquake destroyed Los Angeles, now rebuilt as New Los Angeles. A Mad Max and Romeo and Juliet to the tune of Teenage Kicks and, according to Kot, Moore’s finest work to date.Also coloured by Jordie Bellaire, lettered by Clayton Cowles, design by Tom Muller.

Bleeding Cool has already reported Matt Wagner‘s third and final chapter Mage: The Hero Denied – and it’s being coloured by his son. He will publish a bridge to new series, a #0 issue at San Diego Comic Con and then a new first issue in August, and a fifteen issue run to conclude the comic with a double sized issue.

Savage Town is a new comic by Declan Shalvey with Phillip Barrett. A crime story in Limerick, Ireland. Rejected titles were Pretty Deadly Cass and Southern Irish Bastards. Told all in Irish slang, it may be unreadable.

It will be a graphic novel starring Jimmy Savage, a small time criminal and Blackie, the only black man in town. Coming in the fall.

6 issue series, beginning with huge 66 page first issue, and 35 pages for each next one. With 3 covers for each issue, one from Pablo, one from Janson and one from Frank Miller. A thriller with supernatural creatures about to launch their ultimate plan. Pablo on present parts, Janson on the past.

Coming in July.

Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle have a new series Moonstruck, which started as a five page school project. And now a five issue series starting in July, with particular illustrations by Kate Leth. A fantastical world in which a main character becomes a werewolf when mad. With a best friend, a centaur named Chet. “This book is very gay” says Grace Ellis…. The story is about what happens when you get into a relationship too quickly and how that can affect you as a person. Out in July.